5 Attractions Sites You Can Visit in Egypt (with Photos)

CAIRO, Dec.25 (SEE)- Here are just a few of the ancient Egyptian historical sites that provide an overview of Egyptian history from the time of pharaohs.

Deir El-Medina in Luxor

Deir El-Medina, the ruins of an ancient Egyptian village where all the workers and artisans that built the tombs in the Valley of the Kings and Queens lived. Because this is where they lived and died, you can also find tombs of these workers.

There’s not much left of the village above ground just ruins of walls and buildings. But below ground many of the workers’ tombs are extremely well preserved. The difference between these tombs and the tombs of the pharaohs is that the paintings and carvings inside the tombs of the workers depict scenes of everyday ancient Egyptian life. Our favorite paintings included detailed black-and-white cows.

Deir El-Medina in Luxor

Habu Temple in Luxor

“Habu Temple” the Mortuary Temple of “Ramesses III” was one of those sites. It’s a fairly large temple with traditional new Kingdom temple construction. But the difference was that there was basically no one else there.

It is best known for its well-preserved wall carvings. There’s also a decent amount of ancient paint still visible on many of the columns, especially in the peristyle hall.

Habu Temple in Luxor

Abu Simbel temple

Pharaoh ”Ramesses II”, who reigned for 66 years during Egypt’s Nineteenth Dynasty, is known as one of the greatest leaders of ancient Egypt.You can see the marks of “Ramesses II” at several of Egypt’s ancient sites.

The most famous site related to ”Ramesses II” is Abu Simbel, a pair of temples south of Aswan. The Great temple with huge statues of ”Ramesses II” outside and the Small temple, dedicated to his favorite wife ”Nefertari”, dates back to the 1200s BC and intricate carvings still intact inside.

Abu Simbel temples

Valley of Kings We don’t think you can visit Egypt without visiting the Valley of the Kings in Luxor. This is where all the famous pharaohs of ancient Egypt were interred. The carvings and paintings inside are still in-tact in most of the tombs.

This is a popular place for both international and Egyptian tourists. The tombs open to the public at the Valley of the Kings often change based on restoration projects and for preservation’s sake. But there are always a handful to chose from, most of which still have intricate carvings and original paint preserved inside.

Valley of Kings

Temple of Hatshepsut

We’ve probably heard of ”Hatshepsut”, she is regarded as having been a very successful ruler of Egypt, during the ”Eighteenth Dynasty” and is one of the most famous female pharaohs. But she was never meant to to rule ancient Egypt.

You can still see most of the temple, including some well preserved carvings and the famous statues that ”Hatshepsut” had built of herself. She was all about proving that she was just as strong and capable as any man. This is reflected in these statues which are dressed like men and are even wearing the false beards that represented ”wisdom” in ancient Egypt.

The Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut was one of my favorites in Egypt for two reasons. It looks very different from many of the other temples there and it belonged to one of ancient Egypt’s badass boss babes.